How many times do you switch on your TV and see the same anchor every time in one day? The answer would most definitely be Never, had this young man not taken up this challenge and made a record for himself. It is probably the world’s first ever 24-hour non-stop anchoring on TV. From being a Radio Jockey at Big 92.7 FM in Mangalore, he has come a long way to be an Editor-in-Charge at Spandana TV Channel today. He actively takes part and drives social initiatives like Neralu Neravu and Namme Mane Namma Mara with undying enthusiasm. Meet this coastal star, hailing from the beautiful city of Udupi, all set to make the world a greener place- Mr. Avinash Kamath.
The Ideation Of Marathon News
When I was working in Radio 5 years back, I had attempted 2 marathons. I also had a dream to attempt 125 hours of Radio Marathon and enter into the Limca Book of World Records. But this was not possible for many reasons. I wanted to try the same in TV 3 years back, but then again it did not work out. I wasn’t very keen after that and had kind of forgotten the idea.
During the elections of the Jilla and Taluk Panchayat, there were continuous shows on the TV and I had finished my slots. As I came back to office from lunch, this idea sprung into my mind. I immediately called one of my colleagues, Sudarshan, and explained it to him. He liked the concept and I then explained it to my GM at around 8:30 pm. I proceeded to meet my MD and tried explaining the idea to him at around 11pm! He gave me a Go Ahead. I then had 3-4 rounds of discussions with my colleagues to which everyone agreed. The actual preparations began aggressively 25 days prior to the event!
24 Hours Non-Stop Anchoring By Avinash Kamath
It was not easy, since we had to develop more than 20 programs, invite more than 20 guests, and have more than 20 concepts with enough inputs, but with the same anchor. Believe me, we could not completely freeze all the programs until the previous day. But it was challenging and interesting.
My editor- Guru and I had worked till 11:20 pm on the previous day of the marathon! I did not sleep the whole night. The marathon was executed flawlessly with the support of the whole team. More than 20 people were supporting every program at any given time. People liked it and appreciated the brand new attempt. I was delighted when our attempt was captured forever at Assist World records under the mention “THE MOST NON – STOP VARIETY SHOWS HOSTED BY AN ANCHOR IN TELEVISION”
Neralu Neravu
We had successfully implemented an abhiyaan titled Neralu Neravu (In Kannada, Neralu means Shadow and Neravu means Help) on October 19, 2015. Post that, I was sitting with Gururaj Sanil at his home and we were discussing different topics. We happened to discuss the situation of trees, Bangalore’s condition, how it is getting worse day by day, and how people are suffering. That’s when he suddenly asked me why don’t I continue doing more good work on these lines under the same banner! I agreed and that’s when I came up with the concept of planting trees in homes.
Namma Mane Namma Mara
I told Gururaj that I will take up the initiative with his support, and there would be no looking back. That night I was my excitement was off the roof! Initially we decided to continue the new work under the same name, but then decided to go with Namme Mane Namma Mara (Our Home Our Tree). This name suited our concept and we decided to go with it. Raviraj HP joined us from the first day after liking the concept. I can go on and on about the help I’ve received!
Painting The Country Green
The support we have received has been tremendous. The pictures on our Facebook page says it all. Our concept initially was to plant in the house premises, but then the initiative got wings and feathers, pushing us to plant in schools, colleges, organizations, and corporate offices, on different occasions at different places.
People have liked the concept and are giving us funds to purchase more and more plants. We have no financial expectations. Ours is a continuous planting program and there are ideas of taking this to the next level in a year or so. Our team of 3 – Gururaj Sanil, Raviraj HP and I, will do what it takes to help people give back to the nature that gives us life. We wish to sow the seeds of goodness and greenery for the generations to yield.
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